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Wednesday, 1 February 2017

Review - 'Supergirl', S02E10 - 'We Can Be Heroes'

While
it may still have its weak-points, the second season of Supergirl
has still managed to feel like a fairly significant improvement over
the first. There are many factors that have contributed to this, of
course – but, the most important is clearly the increased emphasis
that the season has placed on Kara's role as a superhero. The change
in network may have been seen as a sign of failure by some viewers.
But, it was also this very change that served as the catalyst for the
improvements that have been made – so, it has become increasingly
difficult to see it as a 'bad thing'.

The
season's tenth episode represents a particularly interesting
challenge for Supergirl,
though – as it also sees the return of one of the first season's
most disappointing villains, in the form of Livewire (Brit Morgan).
Despite making two seperate appearances throughout the first season
(one of which taking place on the otherwise very entertaining
Supergirl/The
Flash cross-over), Livewire
never quite managed to feel like a fully-realised character, or a
particularly credible threat. Instead, her 'shock jock turns
super-villain' persona just came across as somewhat one-dimensional,
and more than a little grating, to me (in much the same way that
real-life 'shock jocks' often do, funnily enough).

Unfortunately,
one of the first things that I was forced to admit about this episode
was that, at least as far as Livewire is concerned, nothing had
really changed – though, fortunately, it also became just as
obvious , fairly early on, that this episode wasn't actually going to
be about Livewire, at
all. Instead, as you might be able to guess from the episode's title,
this episode is one that very concerned with the idea of heroism –
and, in particular, with what it actually takes to be a hero.

With
two aspiring heroes stepping forward, eager to help capture to
recently escaped super-villain, the contrast that the episode was
intent on establishing between James, as Guardian, and Mon-El felt
very obvious – but, fortunately, it managed to avoid coming across
as heavy-handed. With Mon-El, we have someone who shared some of
Kara's enhanced abilities – but, who is also reckless, and clearly
motivated as much by self-interest as any urge to actually 'do good',
With James, on the other hand, we have someone who does not have any
enhanced abilities to fall back on but who clearly has the best
intentions.

With
the two men so obviously set up to contrast each other, the implicit
question that the episode asks is which, if either, is best suited to
being called a 'hero' Of course, while the question seems to be left
at least somewhat open-ended, for the audience, Kara has clearly
formed her own ideas – already going out of her way to encourage,
and train, Mon-El while being almost aggressively dismissive of
Guardian. This, of course, all comes to a head when she is finally
given the opportunity to learn that James and Guardian are actually
one and the same.

I have
to admit that Kara's reaction, and her behaviour throughout much of
the episode, managed to strike a strange balance between being
incredibly frustrating, while also feeling very genuine. I can
understand why she would be so concerned about James's safety, of
course – but, her stern disapproval (to the extent that she was
even willing to threaten to force James to stop, if he didn't listen
to her) would have to be the first time that Kara has ever been
allowed to appear unlikable. Similarly, her shaken confidence in
Mon-El, after seeing first-hand the way in which he puts his concern
for her above that of the innocent bystanders they are supposed to be
protecting, felt like an important moment in his own gradual
development.

While
I haven't been entirely won over by either James's rapid transition
into costumed crime-fighter, or Mon-El's general level of 'frat boy'
obnoxiousness, I do have to admit that this episode would have to
represent the point at which I came to believe that there actually
was some value in their respective story-lines. In the past, I
haven't found James's sudden desire to become a hero to be all that
convincing – but now, if only because Supergirl's somewhat
patronising attitude toward the idea of humans who want to be heroes
genuinely annoyed me, I actually feel a little more invested in the
idea of James and Winn continuing their partnership, and succeeding.
On a similar note, Mon-El actually being able to admit, both to
himself and to Kara, that his recent decision had more to do with his
feelings for her, than any genuine desire to be a hero, felt like an
important moment in his own character-arc.

In the
end, though, it still felt like a a bit of a shame for so much of the
episode to be based around Livewire's 'escape' from prison. For one
thing, as I've already mentioned, she still doesn't manage to come
across as a very compelling figure, even in her third appearance.
Also, while the surprise twist of actually placing her in a 'victim'
role, here, was a nice surprise, it was also a decision which
ultimately left us saddled with an even less compelling villain, in
the form of an unnamed scientist intent on recreating Livewire's
powers, for reasons of his own.

Worst
of all, though, is the fact that the episode's focus on this primary
plot-line took time and attention away from a sub-plot which actually
proved to be much more interesting – as focus is shifted back to
the Martians, J'onn and M'gann, and their still unresolved issues.
With M'gann left catatonic, following a sudden psychic attack, J'onn
is left with the difficult decision of whether or not to help a
member of the alien species responsible for wiping out his own
people. It is, obviously, an extremely important point in their
respective story-lines. It also serves as the source of some
genuinely great scenes for both David Harewood and Sharon Leal. But,
unfortunately, it is also a sub-plot that feels incredibly rushed.

This
episode's primary plot-line was fine, for what it was – and, it
allowed for two members of the supporting cast to make some much
needed progress on their respective character-arcs. But, I still
can't shake the fact that it came at the expense of such an important
sub-plot. In the end, I was just left feeling as though it was a
mistake for these two plot-lines to be placed in the same episode.
J'onn and M'gann's story of redemption and forgiveness just felt like
something that deserved to be treated with more care and attention,
and certainly much more screen-time, then it was given, here. But,
then, it seems as though the next episode is going to be heavily
based around M'gann M'orzz – so, hopefully, that will go some way
toward making up for this mistake.